The chamber of the Sleeping Heart erupted into chaos.
Light and metal clashed in a storm of power as Rayan Tarsa and Rustfang faced Ardis Valen and his knights.
Etheric fire crackled through the air, distorting gravity, bending sound.
Every strike of Ardis's sword split the air like thunder.
Every swing of Rustfang's blade tore the ground apart.
The battlefield was no longer a place—it was a wound in reality itself.
> "Blasphemous machine!" Ardis's voice boomed through the dust.
"You desecrate the Creator's flame!"
> "Creator?" Rayan's voice came through Rustfang's modulated speakers.
"You mean the same gods who abandoned this world?"
Ardis dashed forward, his armor bursting with radiant energy.
Rustfang blocked the strike—but the force sent both of them skidding back, gouging trenches through the stone floor.
Inside the cockpit, Rayan's body convulsed.
The neural link was overloading—pain stabbed through his head like lightning.
He saw flashes of the Architect's memories—cities of gold, machines walking beside men, and the moment it all burned.
> "The world fell because of pride."
"Because man feared his reflection in steel."
Lyra's voice cut through the comms.
> "Rayan! Your synchronization levels are spiking—if it keeps rising, your mind will fuse with Rustfang permanently!"
> "Not an option," he gritted out, blood trickling from his nose.
"We finish this now!"
He slammed the neural throttle forward.
Rustfang's optics flared crimson, its movements accelerating beyond normal limits.
A red halo of ether light surrounded it—unstable, burning, alive.
> "Rayan!" Rustfang's voice growled.
"You're pushing too far!"
> "Then push with me!" Rayan shouted.
Their minds collided—two consciousnesses folding into one.
The pain vanished, replaced by an overwhelming clarity.
For the first time, Rayan wasn't piloting Rustfang.
He was Rustfang.
Ardis sensed the shift.
> "What are you?" he hissed.
> "Not a man," Rayan said through the comm, his voice distorted by the fusion.
"Not a machine. Something in between."
The ground trembled as Rustfang raised its weapon—a massive cleaver forged from the mech's own etheric core.
The crimson glow intensified, shaping wings of pure energy from its back.
The Overdrive Form had awakened.
> "So be it," Ardis snarled, raising his blade. "Then I will strike you down as both!"
They charged.
Rustfang's blade met Ardis's holy sword, red clashing with gold in a flash that split the sky open.
Ether arcs rippled across the chamber, shattering ancient walls, sending fragments of glass and metal spiraling through the air.
For every strike Ardis made, Rayan countered—fluid, instinctive, faster than thought.
Their battle became a storm of light and rage, faith and fury, humanity and steel.
Lyra watched from behind a fallen pillar, shielding her eyes from the glare.
> "This isn't combat anymore," she whispered.
"It's evolution."
But even as Rustfang gained ground, Rayan felt the strain tearing through his body.
His vision blurred, heartbeat syncing perfectly with Rustfang's mechanical pulse.
If he let go now, his consciousness would be devoured.
Ardis shouted, his voice echoing like a sermon:
> "You wield the devil's gift, Tarsa! You will destroy everything!"
> "Then let it be destroyed!" Rayan roared.
"Because this world stopped listening a long time ago!"
He drove Rustfang's blade into Ardis's chestplate, piercing layers of ether armor.
Light burst from the wound, blinding and pure.
For a heartbeat, everything froze—the holy knight, the heretic pilot, and the ancient heart that watched over them all.
The Sleeping Heart responded.
Its pulse quickened, waves of energy surging through the city, reviving dormant machines buried beneath the ruins.
The entire city of Vall Oras began to breathe again.
Ardis fell to one knee, armor cracked, his sword fading.
> "What… have you done?" he gasped.
Rayan, still within Rustfang, looked around as light spiraled upward from the ground.
> "I think," he said quietly, "I just woke up the world."
The Architect's fading hologram appeared one last time, her expression a mix of awe and sorrow.
> "So it begins again… the age of souls and steel."
And with that, the light consumed them all—
marking the rebirth of Ardentia.